AftP Project; Screen Trapped

This short film highlights the uneasy balance most people have, I included, regarding the weight and importance of digital media in our lives. This film uses abstract, symbolically familiar AI generated images and footage to blur the lines of reality as the subject is further drawn into their screen-based addiction. I found the most interesting part that I could reflect upon of this concept is how usual this all seems to me. I’ve grown up with ready access to social media all my life, and to see people on the street utterly absorbed by their screens is really nothing new to me. To recontextualize this day-to-day normalcy into an unnerving compulsion that keeps and demands its users’ attentions brings a new perspective that is reinforced by the abstract, droning soundtrack and surreal visuals. As this project reflects on how social media impacts our average day, AI is used in the presentation of this, as this initial idea is more a realization of the larger picture of how absorbed we are in this aspect of our lives.

AftP Project; Down The Rabbit Hole

The nine-minute long adaptation of Alice in Wonderland provides a surreal experience, retelling much of the classic story with an uncanny digital twist, all contextualized to a digital rabbit hole. This film blends a use of generative AI and live-action footage to craft a narrative with striking resemblances to Lewis Carrol’s famed work warning of the chemical addiction that the younger generations deal with around escapism and compulsion. I was highly impressed by the length of this production, as it is no small feat to accomplish so much in the allotted weeks for this task, and to still have such a coherent and visually remarkable quality to show for it. How this film covers its idea, is very similar to how ‘Screen Trapped’ does, deconstructing how younger people engage and are adversely affected by digital media; all expressed through the aethereal and fantastical world of AI. Down The Rabbit Hole differs from Screen Trapped in its narrative approach, cemented to many conventions of the original story, using the abstract themes of escapism as a foundation to explore how this same concept applies to digitalism. It’s very entertaining and utilizes its premise well. I’d rewatch this one.

Decoding AI Project; Artists and AI: Assessing the threat of AI to the Creative

I was surprised by this video essay, as it covers many ideas that were involved in the creative process of my group’s Project Toblerone Super Bowl ad. The core premise at the center of this essay is how AI approaches the same level, and thusly threatens, the professional artist in the modern age and their job security of the future. Similar to what we experienced firsthand, AI still has a few decades to truly encompass the ‘human experience’ as the essay puts it; true creativity that expresses ideas, emotions and concepts tangible to the lives of humans. However, which is made clear in examples, AI is significant in the world of ‘content’, deriving to ads, shorts, essays and anything directly grounded in whatever field it stems from. Essentially, AI models have been fed so many essays, scripts and similar pieces that it will have mastered the concept and production of ‘content’, that it is legitimate that AI threatens this sphere. It was a very interesting essay with high production values and an applicable, engaging theory that I could personally vouch for.

Decoding AI Project; How does Google Maps determine the fastest route?

It’s an interesting question that I’d never thought to found out, or even ask myself. I’d always assumed the computer just did the calculations based on distance, time and previous knowledge of traffic levels. This video essay, in a similar way to Artists and AI, analyze and understand what AI’s impact is on traffic routing, forecasting, and sustainability. Decoding AI focuses on how artificial intelligence is only so many degrees from human, how and where the line is drawn between what human functions are done by AI for accessibility and ease, and when it becomes tasks that humans cannot perform. The processes that Google Maps comprehends gives a significant presence to AI in our lives, as the mathematics and statistics that it has to constantly update and predict on such a large scale force this task out of the hands of humans without a significant overhaul to how traffic mathematics is calculated and road systems are built. It’s a very fascinating topic that makes me realize the scale that AI works on, and appreciate the quality-of-life that comes from its engineering.